The Girl in Gold
by Wings of a Night Fury
Summary: Hiccup finds a mysterious girl in the forest who has fallen from the sky. Is she really what she says she is? Why does she keep disappearing? My first FanFic so please read and review! (I promise it will be good)
1. She fell from the sky

Dead foliage crackled under Toothless's massive feet and chilly air nipped at Hiccup's ears, birds chirped and the slight grumble of a terrible terror sounded, but still the forest of Berk was more beautiful than ever.

"We should go for walks like this more often" Hiccup said.

Toothless groaned.

"Yeah, you're right; Flying would be better."

Toothless's ears pricked up, and a slight grumble escaped him.

"What's wrong bud?" Hiccup asked, looking around the forest.

Toothless shifted his eyes protectively. A tree branch snapped, then a loud thud hit the ground.

"It sounds like something landed in the cove!" Hiccup exclaimed, rushing toward the cove where he first found his beloved Night Fury.

Toothless hesitated, something did not seem right. He followed Hiccup anyways. Hiccup peered over the mouth of the cove. A couple of branches were broken, and the water rippled vigorously.

"Looks like whatever crashed is in the water," Hiccup said, leaping down the rocks.

He tiptoed closer to the water, trying carefully not to spook whatever crashed here. Hiccup brought his knee to the ground, and placed his hand into the water. With a gasp, a body rose from the water. Hiccup jumped back in surprise. A girl—about his age—rose from the water. Long golden hair cascaded down her back, the water made it glisten even more. Her eyes opened and fixed themselves on Hiccup. Strands of violet radiated from her pupils, creating an unusual spectrum of purple in her eyes. She rose from the water, facing hiccup. She seemed dazed, and weak. Her legs collapsed under her and she tumbled back into the water. Toothless tucked his wings back and dove into the water, He arose from the water with the girl clutched tight in his arms. Toothless delicately laid the girl on the ground before hiccup.

"Hello?" Hiccup muttered, lifting the girl's head up.

Toothless shook his head, sending water flying.

"Lets take her back bud, she can wake up safely there,"

Toothless grumbled.

"Don't be lazy, she's not heavy at all!" Hiccup said, lifting the limp body with ease.

Toothless allowed hiccup and the girl to get on his back. Metal clicked together as Hiccup placed his metal foot into the stirrup—a sound that they both loved to hear. The dragon leaped into the air, letting out an excited roar. Trees flashed underneath them as they flew over the forest, and Berk started to leak into vision. Hiccup took his eyes off the horizon and looked at the girl. Her eyebrows twitched, just like a sleeping dog with a nightmare. Hiccup hovered his left hand over her forehead awkwardly, unsure weather to soothe her or not. The dragon dove down, and landed smoothly in front of Hiccup's house.


	2. The Challenge

Sunlight leaked into the girl's waking eyes. Her vision focused to see a curious boy in front of her. The girl jumped to a sitting position.

"_Oh, uh_… Morning," The boy said, scratching the back of his neck and hoping he wasn't frightening her.

"Morning," she responded, her voice as smooth as music.

"Toothless and I found you in the forest yesterday, it seemed like you took a pretty nasty fall."

The girl glanced at the onyx black dragon bearing a toothless grin on his face. "Yeah," She chuckled.

"Do you know how it happened?" Hiccup asked, looking intently at her Amethyst eyes.

The girl stood up and faced away from Hiccup. Her hair cascaded down her back in golden waves. Her skin was slightly tanned by the afternoon sun. The girl's body was toned and tall under her tattered leggings and shirt. Red cuts showed through the slices in her clothes, torn in by the trees that broke her fall.

"I—I don't remember quite well" She muttered.

"Well, I'll leave you to remember it, come downstairs when you're ready and enjoy the finest breakfast in Berk!" Hiccup said, leaving the room. He popped his head back in the room for a moment. "Just kidding though, I probably shouldn't have raised your expectations like that."

The girl smiled, "I'm sure ill enjoy it anyways."

Hiccup raced down stairs, his loyal night fury following on his heels.

"How's our guest?" Stoick asked, placing mutton on the table.

"She's fine, she doesn't seem to remember why she plummeted into the cove though."

"Hmm…" Stoick muttered. "Anyways, ill get back to you later tonight son, Thornado and I are going to do some chiefing." He said as he left the house.

"Arya," A female voice announced from the top of the stairs.

"What?"

"My name… Its Arya," She said with a slight smile, stepping down the stairs quickly and gliding into the chair in front of Hiccup.

"Well I'm Hiccup—and that's Toothless," he said, gesturing to his dragon.

Arya nodded, staring with desire at the meal before her.

"You know, most outsiders are unable to grasp the concept of dragons and Vikings working and living together—" He said, eying her suspiciously. "—But you seem pretty okay with it…"

Arya looked up from the mutton, her eyes widening. "Well… why shouldn't they? It was pointless for dragons and Vikings to fight, so the fact that you provide dragons with shelter and food seems pretty cool."

"Ha-ha… wait until you see what we can accomplish together!" Hiccup exclaimed leading her out of the house.

Toothless jumped around exuberantly, snarling with excitement to fly.

Hiccup lifted himself onto the back of the dragon, then extended a hand to Arya.

"Just hold on," He said, a proud smirk showing on his face. He pulled Arya into the seat behind him.

"Lets go bud!" He exclaimed, leaning foreword into a riding position.

Toothless jolted foreword and leaped into the air. Wind slashed at hiccup's face. Arya's arms wrapped around Hiccup's waist as Toothless jolted higher into the air. Clouds flashed past them, and the blue horizon grew closer to them. Toothless slowed down when he reached his highest point, and dove down back into the sea of clouds. The ocean appeared before them. Its deep blue depths ominously called for them. Just as they reached the water, the dragon made a sharp turn and glided above the surface, letting the tips of his wings skim the shell of the water. White water splashed at them, providing the dragon with cooling relief. They soared over Berk, houses and fields of crops passed them by. The productive morning for these simple Vikings was a sight for those above watching over them. Arya rested her chin on Hiccup's shoulder as Toothless slowed to a calm landing on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Hiccup laughed—"You were great, I've never taken such a calm outsider before."

"Thank you for the ride Hiccup, Berk is _wonderful_!"

"Hey if you want, we have a training academy right here in Berk! Maybe you could stay here for a while and try it out…"

Arya smiled—"I don't know if I'm cut out to train dragons,"

"C'mon, if you try it for one day and still don't think so I'll… I'll—" He paused to think. "I'll let you make up your own reward."

"Fine," She said. "One day!"

"How about today?"

Fine, but I better start thinking of my reward," She said with a cocky smirk, turning and facing toothless.


	3. Midnight Mystery

"Who is _she_?" Snotlout flirted.

Arya stood at the mouth of the arena behind Hiccup, wearing a displeased look.

"But really, who is she?" Ruffnut added.

"This is Arya, We found her yesterday in the cove."

"So just because you find something means you can bring it to practice?" Snotlout said.

"I found a cabbage under my bed… well I hope it's a cabbage," Tuffnut said, scratching his head.

"Remember the last time you showed an outsider this stuff?" Astrid said bitterly.

Hiccup looked at her blankly.

Astrid groaned—"Heather?"

"This is different—" Hiccup pulled Arya forward. "We can trust her,"

Astrid scoffed.

"Thanks for letting me do this with you guys today—" Arya turned to Astrid and flashed her a friendly smile. "I assure you it will _only _be today."

Hiccup rolled his eyes playfully, "We'll see… "

"So what are you going to make her do?" Fishlegs added, his voice quiet.

"We'll start from the basics," Hiccup said proudly, leaving Toothless's side. "Just be friendly, make Toothless respect you."

Hiccup paced away from them, then spun on his heels to see toothless sprawled on the ground happily with his tongue out of his mouth.

"What happened?"

"While we were ignoring you—" Snotlout said rudely, "—the new girl got on your dragon's good side."

"Wow, that was fast. How'd you do it?" Hiccup shrugged.

Arya backed away from Toothless. "Dragons love a good scratch behind the wings," she said. Toothless sprung up and stood in Arya's shadow.

"How'd you know that?" Astrid butted in.

Arya paused—"Well, its just common sense I guess."

"Yeah, okay…" Astrid said sarcastically, she folded her arms and scoffed.

"Anyways… go ahead and get on him," Hiccup said, walking over to Toothless.

"_Umm_… it seems to late to ride, don't you think?"

"The sun isn't even down yet, we have plenty of time!"

Arya stared at Hiccup. He saw worry in her eyes, and decided not to force her to ride.

"We can continue ground work with you today, but tomorrow you'll get a chance to ride," Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow.

"This does not count against the bet though, today doesn't count as one full day," Arya said with a smile.

"As long as you don't give up on training dragons, I'm happy."

Arya smiled.

* * **LATER*** * *

Hours of questions about her past, hours of lying; Arya sat alone in her borrowed room, thoughts racing through her mind. Her eyes drifted to the window, where the navy sky wrapped around the horizon. Before she knew it, Arya was crawling off the roof. She broke out into a run. The forest appeared under her feet. Her breath was heavy, and her heart beat at her chest, but still she did not stop running.

"The cove" she whispered, trying to think of a safe place.

Bugs chirped, illuminating the forest with life and commotion. Everything seemed amplified in Arya's ears, rattling in her head. Frogs croaked, and the slight buzzing of a sleepwalking Gronckle's wings hummed all around.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Arya roared, crashing to the ground on her hands and knees. The dirt softened her collapse. She closed her eyes tight. All the sounds blended together and screamed in her ears.

"Cant this hold off until next week?" She muttered through gritted teeth.

She exhaled with relief and allowed the forces of nature do what they were trying to do. Her eyes began to glow brighter, and her hair gleamed as if it were reflecting sunlight. Her body began to take a new shape.

A long slender body rose from where the human girl used to be in a wave of gold light. Vibrant scales gold and bright like the sun lined the gossamer surface of the creature. Moonlight reflected of the long crème colored horns of the beast, protruding behind the massive head. Golden feathers and long strands of amber hair created a mane on her neck, the hair glimmered in the light of the night. Feathered wings with shimmering amber feathers and downy crème colored feathers stretched high into the sky. Silver talons dug into the soft ground. A piercing roar broke through the beast's mouth, ringing through the cove. It ended the call with a snarl and leaped into the air, her muscles rippling under the dancing scales.

With a shrieking roar, the dragon flew out of the cove, and towards the sea.


	4. Arya, who are ya?

**_***I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON***_**

**Thank you everyone who has read, faved, followed and/or reviewed this, it means a lot to me! (Sorry about the cheesy title for this chapter, I couldn't resist!)**

Birds chirped, bringing Arya out of her restless sleep. She lied in the middle of the forest. Arya pushed herself up, pain shooting through her joints. _I thought I could keep it under control_—She thought. Arya stood up slowly on her human legs.

"Its still early, I can get home before Hiccup finds me," She muttered.

Arya raced as fast as she could back into Berk. She climbed onto the roof and slipped into the window, perching on the side of her borrowed bed.

The door creaked open, "You up Arya?" Hiccup whispered. He stepped into the room and looked at her terrified and sleepless face.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story," Arya said, hoping that would satisfy the question.

Hiccup nodded—"Well I hope you're still up for riding today!"

"I'm ready," She said, laugh in her breath.

Noises shifted outside of the room. Toothless burst through the door, racing up towards Arya and giving her a toothless smile.

"Woa, c'mon bud, it's time to ride.

The three headed out of the house.

"I'll sit behind you," Hiccup said, strapping on Toothless's saddle.

Arya swung herself onto the saddle, shifting into a comfortable position with Hiccup behind her.

"Now what?"

"Give him a tiny nudge,"

Arya squeezed her calf. Toothless ran a few steps forward before leaping into the sky. Toothless swooped down to glide just above the trees of the forest. The wind whistled softly in Arya's ears as she overlooked the serene beauty of the peaks of the trees. She almost forgot about the night before.

"So, I have a question if you don't mind me asking," Arya said.

"Shoot."

"Okay… What's up with the metal leg?"

Hiccup smiled, "Toothless and I got in some trouble with a red death."

"And his metal tail?"

"That was my fault…" Hiccup said with guilt in his voice. "I tried to shoot him down before Berk trained dragons."

"Well, you two look like the perfect pair."

Hiccup smiled—"Thank you."

A snarl echoed from down below.

"Did you hear that?" Arya asked.

"Yes I did," Hiccup said in a worried tone. "Lets check it out bud." Toothless swooped down into the forest, gliding in between the staggered trees. A shriek pierced their ears. Toothless picked up speed and landed behind some bushes. Hiccup swung his metal leg over the dragon and slid down to his feet. A monstrous nightmare stumbled around, knocking down trees. The ground trembled under the dragon's terrible roar.

"It's a monstrous nightmare," Hiccup said. He pushed through the bushes, exposing his unarmed self to the displeased dragon.

Hiccup held his palm out to the nightmare. The dragon growled in his throat. He snarled, and bright ember flames spewed out of its mouth, tossing Hiccup to the side.

"Hiccup!" Arya yelled. She stumbled through the bushes and stood in front of the monstrous nightmare. Its brilliant scarlet scales were illuminated by the flames that it wore as armor. Arya stared into its yellow eyes and saw its pain. A deep cut showed on the dragon's right side; a cut that Arya had given it. A pang of guilt hit her as she tried to shut out the memory of the night before.

"Arya, move!"

Arya snapped back into reality. The monstrous nightmare screeched and growled. It opened its mouth and fire started to rise inside. Arya narrowed her eyes and stared into the depths of the creature's eyes. A half roar, half scream escaped Arya's mouth. She stood in front of the dragon, which cooled down his fire. One last defensive snarl escaped the dragon, before he turned and raced into the forest.

"What did you just do?" Hiccup asked, astonished.

"Hiccup… I—I'm sorry, but I think I should leave now."

"Leave? Why? Arya, what's wrong?"

"I can't explain it Hiccup!"

Hiccup stepped closer to Arya. "Are you okay?"

"I…I'll be fine. Goodbye hiccup," She said sadly, turning away from him.

Hiccup grabbed her shoulder. "Arya, I know you haven't been telling me everything."

Arya pushed his hand off and turned back around to him. "I'm dangerous hiccup, I don't know what I was thinking even letting you take me in."

"Are you…working for the outcasts?" hiccup asked, betrayal in his voice.

"No, I don't even know what that is," She said. Arya sighed. "Hiccup, thank you for taking me in and giving me these lessons, but…" Arya turned around and sprinted as fast as she could.

"Toothless, follow her!" He said as he mounted the dragon.

Toothless cut Arya off. She groaned and balled up her fists.

"Fine Hiccup, I'm stopping this stupid interrogation now." She said. "Have you ever heard of a Golden Heart Grabber?"

Hiccup looked at her blankly.

"It's a type of dragon… that I happen to be."

Hiccup laughed. "What? _You're _a dragon?" he said sarcastically.

"See, I told you not to ask me."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"A Heart Grabber can change its appearance between dragon and human."

"What do they—you—do?"

"Well… they can manipulate another creature's mind and make the creature feel differently about them,"

"Heart Grabber… so you make other dragons love you?" Hiccup asked, almost sounding offended.

"If I try to make them love me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just being around us makes you think better of us."

"Does it work on humans too?" Hiccup asked.

Arya paused, "The power is much stronger in dragon form," she said quietly.

Hiccup looked at her, his face full of confusion. "So why are you in human form if your powers work better as a dragon?"

Arya groaned. "You don't get it! I'm trying to avoid my powers!"

"Why?"

"I don't want to change what others think of me, I want to be hated, feared, and ignored."

Hiccup looked at Arya as if she was a stranger. He had no clue what to say next.

"I just wanted to find somewhere to hide them and live as a normal Viking," Arya said sadly.

"Well, Berk is a pretty accepting place, I bet you could live in whatever form you want without hiding what you are."

Hiccup smiled reassuringly at Arya. She gave him a half smile in return.

"Ill stay, but please don't tell anyone about this. I want to decide how to tell them." Arya said.

"Don't worry, I wont tell anyone. But people are going to get suspicious on why you aren't doing dragon training," Hiccup trailed of. He smiled wide at Arya, knowing what would have to happen.

"I guess I'll do dragon training," Arya mumbled.

Hiccup extended his hand to her, "Lets go then."


	5. Harmony

**I do not own HTTYD.**

**Thanks for reading my story! I will accept any ideas for twists in the plot, and please tell me what you liked/didn't like about the chapter. (I really hope you like this chapter!) **

**A HUGE thank you to LizzyLori for posting encouraging reviews on everything I post! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"So what are we going to do about that monstrous nightmare?" Arya asked.

The two walked through the forest, taking a break from flying. Toothless walked at Hiccup's side.

"We need to train it before it gets too close to the village," Hiccup said. "I wonder why the big guy was so worked up."

"Umm… I think I know," Arya said, looking away from hiccup.

"Why?"

"It may have been my fault…" Arya said.

Hiccup looked at her with slightly accusing eyes.

"I transformed into my dragon form last night and I couldn't control myself."

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa… _What did you do?"

"Monstrous nightmares can be quite hard to reason with…" Arya muttered.

"You need to get that into control. How often do you change?"

"Usually I can change at will, but last night my dragon side just burst out of me," Arya said.

"Maybe I can train you!" Hiccup said excitedly.

Arya stared at him with a disapproving face.

"Alright, kidding." Hiccup said softly, turning away from Arya.

"You better be."

Hiccup cupped his hands around his mouth and imitated a Monstrous nightmares' call.

A roar boomed from our left, Toothless pricked up his ears. Trees rustled and the ground trembled. The Monstrous nightmare leaped out of the bushes blazing fire.

"Apologize to him Arya." Hiccup said.

"Wha—how?"

"Just—" He was cut off by another thundering roar from the dragon.

Toothless snarled and growled at the monstrous nightmare.

"Hold back Bud, Arya's going to do this one," He said, placing a hand on the night fury's head. Hiccup smiled at Arya, showing his faith in her.

Arya stepped cautiously towards the dragon.

"Sorry?" She said softly.

The monstrous nightmare cooled its fire and stared at her. Arya took another step closer. The dragon reached its head closer to her and roared harder than before.

"Hiccup, it's not going to work!" Arya yelled, dodging the dragon's blast of fire.

Arya saw a tall rock, she ran to it, feeling the thundering earth beneath her due to the giant beast's steps. She crouched down at the bottom of the boulder. The dragon growled. Arya closed her eyes and held her hand out to stop the blast of flame that she expected.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled.

Arya felt no fire, but only the slimy-scaly surface of the dragon's nose.

"You're forgiven Arya," Hiccup said.

The monstrous nightmare seemed calm. Its threat to Arya dissolved, and she only felt compassion for this poor creature's injury that she had caused. Arya pet the creature's snout.

"He's injured hiccup, can you help him?" Arya asked.

"I can try, his cut's pretty big, but Gobber can take a good look at it,"

Arya sighed in relief. "You know, I never would've thought that I would feel sorry for a creature like that."

"You'd be surprised how much you can grow by being with these creatures."

Arya smiled and touched the chin of the dragon.

"We should walk RedFlame back to the village," Arya said.

"RedFlame?" Hiccup asked, a smile on his face.

"He needs something for you humans to call him."

"Can you speak to him?" Hiccup asked.

"Only when I'm in dragon form, we communicate telepathically."

"Whoa… does that mean you can speak to toothless?" Hiccup asked.

"Get me a time where I can be alone with toothless in dragon form and yes."

Hiccup smiled. "Ill send the riders out on a mission and buy you some time in the arena tomorrow."

We walked towards the village in the deep royal blue twilight.

**The next day:**

Hiccup's eyes peeled open. From his temporary bed, he saw Arya sitting crisscross next to toothless. The tips of her golden hair brushed the floor. She let out a hushed laugh, sounding as smooth as still water, and pressed her head against toothless's massive forehead.

Arya turned to Hiccup, sensing his awakening. "Your up." She said, laughter still lingering in her voice.

"How long have you been up?" Hiccup asked sleepily.

"Not long. But toothless has been awake for a while."

"It's a little to early to go into the arena, but we could get some breakfast if you want." Hiccup said.

"Actually… would it be okay if I showed you something?" Arya asked shyly.

Hiccup nodded. "As long as you aren't going to go all dragon on me and make me your breakfast," He said jokingly.

Arya laughed. The two walked down to the beach. Deep blue waves sent from far away lands crashed at the shore, and cool sea breeze licked at their faces.

"So, why are we here again?" Hiccup asked.

"Just a little morning stretch," Arya said, cracking her neck.

"Oh no. I'm not the active guy; I'm the dragon peace guy," Hiccup said.

Arya giggled. "Don't worry, you don't need to be active to do this. I learned this a long time ago."

She stood facing the sunrise, which illuminated the sky in brilliant yellows and blues. She lifted her arms up to the sky and tilted her chin up, her chest rise and fell slowly.

"C'mon, you can do it too."

Hiccup stood tall and thrust his arms up to the sky, glancing at her every few seconds to see if she changed positions. Arya closed her eyes and folded over, reaching her hands behind her feet. Hiccup mimicked her, but his hands barely reached the ground.

"Don't forget to breathe." Arya said.

Hiccup took an exaggerated deep breath in. Arya walked her hands out into an upside down V. Hiccup did the same. Arya lowered down to her belly; hiccup dropped down to his in relief, the upside down V was harder than it looked. Arya pushed her chest up to the sky and stayed there, soaking up the morning sun. Hiccup mimicked her and stayed in that position. He closed his eyes and listened to the roaring waves, the sea birds, and Toothless's snoring. He let his hands sink into the soft sand and let all its warmth radiate through his belly. They broke from that pose and finished the salutation, doing other poses. Hiccup stood in standing, breathing deeply and letting the sand submerge his feet. Hiccup's peaceful state was broken by the nudge of toothless. Hiccup saw Arya drawing in the sand, he sat silently next to her.

"What was that?" He asked.

"It's called yoga. It's stretching, but breathing and feeling in sync with the earth at the same time." Arya responded.

"I like it, it's like really slow fighting but without the war."

Arya smiled. "There's one more thing," she said, crossing her legs and sitting up strait. "Put your back against mine, and sit like this."

Hiccup did what she said to do, and sat up tall, resting on her back.

"Now just relax." She said.

Hiccup let his eyes close, and his chest started to rise and fall. He focused on his surroundings, and let his thoughts drift out of his mind. Hiccup felt a load of stress relived off his head as he drifted off into a peaceful state. The last thought in his mind was the memory of leaving Mildew stuck with the Outcasts. He let that stress glide out of his worry, and completely dove into his meditation. He felt Arya's heartbeat, and the rise and fall of her chest. Arya lifted herself up from sitting next to hiccup and to her feet.

"Should we get to the Arena?" She asked.

Hiccup cleared his throat, "Yes, ill send everyone on a mission so that we'll have some time." He said. Hiccup turned to toothless, "Lets go bud." Toothless looked at him with a toothless smirk on his face. "Ill meet you there," He muttered before toothless leapt into the air.


End file.
